Blog Roll

Spend Rainy Sunday at the Museum with Live Frogs

They're back! Frogs: A Chorus of Colors is now open at the Museum, with more than 200 live amphibians representing more than 20 species from around the world. Among the largest animals on display: two types of bullfrogs.

African bullfrog

African bullfrogs (Pyxicephalus adspersus) grow up to 8 inches in diameter and eat almost anything that moves. They are able to live without food or water for months by digging underground. When the rains arrive, they emerge to eat and mate. The male guards the tadpoles, which swim around him for protection. While protecting the swimming tadpoles, he also feeds on them. After metamorphosis, froglets often eat their smaller siblings.

American bullfrog

More than a century ago, American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana), originally from the eastern and central United States, were introduced into the American West in hopes that they could be farmed for food. Although the farming efforts failed, the bullfrog adapted to man-made ponds and waterways and is now a threat to native species of fish, snakes, birds, and other frogs—some of them endangered.

American bullfrogs are about 3½ to 8 inches in size and feed on insects, crayfish, frogs, and fish as well as on small mammals and birds. Females lay up to 20,000 eggs in long strings, and tadpoles take up to two years to metamorphose.